Armenian massacre victim being carried to the mass grave in the Armenian Gregorian Cemetery, Erzurum, Turkey, 1895

Item Overview

Title

Armenian massacre victim being carried to the mass grave in the Armenian Gregorian Cemetery, Erzurum, Turkey, 1895

Photographer

Sachtleben, William Lewis

Date Created

November 2, 1895

Date

1895-11-02

Collection

Sachtleben (William Lewis) Papers. Collection 1841
Sachtleben (William) Images of Armenian Massacre

Notes

Description

Photograph of 4 Armenian men carrying the body of a victim of the October 30 massacre to the mass grave. The cemetery wall and stand of trees where the bodies of the victims were laid out are in the background.
On Wednesday, October 30, 1895, Armenians were massacred in Erzurum and the surrounding Armenian villages. American journalist William Sachtleben happened to be in Erzurum at that time, investigating the disappearance of American cyclist Frank Lenz. During the massacre Sachtleben was in the American mission building, where over 200 Armenians fled for protection. Sachtleben witnessed the aftermath of the massacre; he took photographs of the victims in the Armenian Cemetery and wrote three lengthy and detailed letters about the massacre that were published, unsigned and attributed to an Occasional Correspondent, in the London Times on November 16, 27 and December 9. In the Nov. 16 letter he wrote: "Saturday, Nov. 2...I went with one of the cavasses of the English Legation, a soldier, my interpreter, and a photographer (Armenian) to the Armenian Gregorian Cemetery. The municipality had sent down a number of bodies, friends had brought more, and a horrible sight met my eyes. Along the wall on the north in a row 20ft. wide and 150ft. long, lay 321 dead bodies of the massacred Armenians..."

Caption

"An Unceremonious Burial: On the Way to the Grave. The burial of most of the victims took place on November 2. There was no funeral ceremony at all. The photograph shows four Armenians half-dragging and half-carrying a corpse from the rows of bodies about 300 feet away to the large trench dug for the burial of 350. The carrying of so many dead in this manner made a beaten path from the two rows of bodies to the grave." ["The Massacre at Erzeroum, October 30, 1895: From Photographs Taken on the Three Following Days." The Graphic: An Illustrated Weekly Newspaper, Dec. 7, 1895. Quoted in Gia Aivazian, "The W. L. Sachtleben Papers on Erzerum in the 1890s" in Armenian Karin/Erzerum, ed. R. G. Hovannisian (2003)]

Physical Description

Extent

1 photographic negative

Medium

b&w nitrate negative

Keywords

Genre

cellulose nitrate film
black-and-white photographs

Location

Turkey--Erzurum

Resource type

still image

Subjects

Cemeteries--Turkey--Erzurum
Dead persons--Turkey--Erzurum
Mass burials--Turkey--Erzurum
Armenia--History--1801-1900
Armenian massacres, 1894-1896--Turkey--Erzurum